The problem
Web design and web development get used interchangeably, and the difference matters when you are paying for one of them. Design decides how a site looks and whether it persuades. Development decides whether it can do the thing your business needs it to do.
Most local businesses only need design. A site with pages, a form and good structure will do the job. If that is you, say so and we will build that instead, because paying for development you do not need is the most common way businesses waste money online.
Development is what you need when the site has to hold a large catalogue, connect to something else you already run, or handle a process rather than just describe one. High Reach carries 129 indexed pages covering dozens of machines with their own specifications. That is not a design problem.
What development covers
Built so the next person can maintain it, which is not always how custom work is left.
Large catalogues
Product and equipment ranges structured so each item has its own page, its own specifications and its own chance to rank.
Custom functionality
Calculators, filters, quote builders, booking flows. Anything the business does that a static page cannot describe.
Integrations
Connecting the site to the systems you already run, so you are not copying data between two places by hand.
Forms that do something
Routing, conditional logic and notifications, rather than a form that lands in an inbox nobody checks.
Performance under load
A catalogue site with hundreds of pages behaves differently from a five page brochure. Caching and queries configured accordingly.
Documented and handed over
Written up so another developer can pick it up. Custom work that only one person understands is a liability, not an asset.
Development that earns its keep
High Reach Inc. sells and rents equipment that buyers search for by model number, not by category. The site was rebuilt around that.
Each model line has its own page, and those pages hold position 2 for "orion forklift" and page one for the Versa-Lift searches. Read the full case study.
Common questions
What is the difference between web design and web development?
Design decides how the site looks and whether it persuades. Development decides what it can do. Most local businesses need design and a good structure, not custom development, and we will tell you if that is the case.
Do I need custom development?
Probably not, if your site is describing services. Probably yes, if it needs to hold a large catalogue, connect to another system, or run a process. Send us the URL and we will give you an honest answer.
What do you build on?
WordPress for almost everything, because you keep ownership and are not locked into a platform. Where something genuinely needs a different approach, we will say so rather than force it.
Who maintains it afterwards?
You can, we can, or another developer can. Custom work gets documented so it is not dependent on us being available, which is the usual problem with bespoke builds.
How long does development take?
Longer than a straight build. Two to three weeks covers design and pages. Custom functionality is quoted separately with its own timeline after we scope it.
Find out what is holding your site back
Send us your URL and we will send back a plain-English audit of what is working, what is not, and what it would take to fix. No charge, no pitch deck.